Rose Gerisch

Berta Elise Rose Gerisch b. Hirschel (born September 17, 1894 in Braunschweig , † November 26, 1955 in Halle (Saale) ) was a German politician and member of parliament ( SPD , SED ).

Life

Rose Gerisch attended the Lyceum Magdeburg and spent two years in England to learn the English language. During the First World War she worked as a nurse. After the war she studied music at the Leipzig University of Music and then worked for two years as a music teacher at a music teacher seminar in Kiel . Then she attended a business school.

Rose Gerisch joined the SPD in 1922 and was organized in the Central Association of Employees (ZDA). In 1925 she left the SPD and joined the International Socialist Combat League (ISK), where she took over the management of the Magdeburg branch.

After the seizure of power by the Nazis, it participated in 1933 in illegal political work. From January to April 1938 she was in “ protective custody ” at the Gestapo Berlin, then in custody on remand in Moabit . In May 1939 she was sentenced to two years in prison for preparation for high treason, which she served in Waldheim prison.

In May 1945 she was involved in building up the FDGB . In July 1945 she joined the SPD and became a member of the SED after the forced unification . In May 1946 she became District Women's Secretary of the SED. In the semi-free state elections in the Soviet zone in 1946 , she was elected to the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament in constituency II ( Burg , Magdeburg , Schönebeck , Jerichow I , Wolmirstedt , Haldensleben , Wanzleben ) , to which she belonged until October 1950. From March 1948 she was a member of the 1st People's Council of the Soviet Zone , from March 1949 of the 2nd People's Council and from October 1949 of the Provisional People's Chamber .

The first state chairwoman of the DFD , the non-party Paula Hertwig , had to give up her mandate in April 1948 and Rose Gerisch became the first chairwoman of the second state conference in her place. Rose Gerisch got caught in the political cleansing of the SED in 1950. She was attacked because of her previous membership in the ISK. Even if she publicly distanced herself from the ISK and showed great zeal, an investigation by the state party control commission was carried out against her. This came to the conclusion that Rose Gerisch was politically reliable and on March 16, 1950, the state secretariat decided to confirm her in office. The next attack came after Rose Gerisch had attended an event organized by women officials of the Eastern CDU to promote the DFD. The state secretariat issued a warning. In November 1950 the management department of the Central Committee of the SED decided to replace Rose Gerisch as state chairman of the DFD. Frida Brock-Oley (SED) became the new DFD state chairwoman .

Another review took place in March 1951. While Rose Gerisch's husband Paul had voiced self-criticism because he belonged to the "anti-party group" ISK , he remained a member of the SED, but Rose Gerisch was expelled from the SED.

literature

• Kurt Schwarze : Handbook of the State Parliament of Saxony-Anhalt. 1947, p. 187.
• Gabriele Baumgartner, Dieter Hebig (Hrsg.): Biographisches Handbuch der SBZ / DDR. 1945–1990. Volume 1: Abendroth - Lyr. KG Saur, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-598-11176-2 , pp. 217-218.
• Frank Hirschinger: "Gestapo agents, Trotskyists, traitors": Communist party purges in Saxony-Anhalt 1918–1953. (= Writings of the Hannah Arendt Institute for Totalitarian Research, Volume 27.) Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 9783525369036 , pp. 264–267, online

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Death register, Hall 2, 1955, entry No. 1301